Geoffrey Harris•16 Sept 2014

NEWS

MOTORSPORT: Commodores more and more

Coming up to Bathurst, and with the end of the second season of the new-generation V8 Supercars with new makes, Holden is still clearly tops

One, two, three, four, Lions roar in lead-up to The Mountain

The history books highlight only success, forgetting the excuses or reasons for failure.

And those history books will reflect that Holden Commodores filled the top four finishing positions in the 2014 Sandown 500 – and five of the top six.

Amid the flurry of news about Marcos Ambrose's return home and his new association with Roger Penske and Dick Johnson in V8 Supercars, Penske has begun The Chase for NASCAR's Sprint Cup title with the drivers of his Fords, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, finishing first and fourth at Chicagoland Speedway. Ambrose was 25th in his Richard Petty Ford.

Penske's on target for a second Sprint Cup title in three years just a couple of weeks after Australian driver Will Power delivered his 12th US open-wheeler title in the IndyCar series.

And Nick Heidfeld, the German driver so unlucky never to have won a Grand Prix in 185 Formula One races, has been robbed of victory at the first "ePrix" in the new all-electric open-wheeler world championship, Formula E.

Alain Prost's son Nicolas crashed into Heidfeld at the final corner of the race in Beijing, gifting Brazilian Lucas di Grassi the victory.

Two factory teams beats ... well, anything

The Bathurst 1000 is now less than four weeks away on October 12, and the lead-up event, the Sandown 500, proved yet again what a masterstroke it was when Holden lured Roland Dane's Triple Eight Race Engineering away from Ford five years ago.

After everything it had already delivered to Holden, Triple Eight's Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell won Sandown for the second straight year – ahead of the Holden Racing Team Commodores of James Courtney/Greg Murphy and Garth Tander/Warren Luff.

And, for good measure, the second Triple Eight Holden driven by Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards was fourth and the Tekno Autosports Commodore of Shane Van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb sixth, despite power steering difficulties.

There were four Fords in the top 10 – the best of them the Dick Johnson Racing entry of youngsters Scott Pye and Ash Walsh in fifth.

All of which meant only one of the eight cars from the three brands that have entered the new-generation V8 Supercar Championship in the past two seasons finished in the top 10.

That was the Volvo S60 of Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat.

And, yes, the Volvo might well have been higher had Premat not been blocked for several seconds on a pitstop, but those history books will show the S60 in eighth – if, in time, they extend beyond the podium or top-five finishers.

Sandown was another comprehensive triumph for the stalwart make in Australian touring car and V8 Supercar racing.

Holden Motorsport manager Simon McNamara's style has seldom won him acclaim outside the company, but his move to snare Triple Eight and give The General effectively two factory teams has been a huge winner.

Triple Eight has consistently produced success for the manufacturer, as it did previously for Ford (but which it felt went unappreciated), and now HRT is a force again – under Dane's former Triple Eight lieutenant, Adrian Burgess.

Bathurst's Great Race is twice as long as the Sandown enduro, and twice as many things can go wrong, but the Holden camp will go to Mt Panorama next month with an almighty two-pronged attack hotly-favoured to reverse last year's triumph there by Ford Performance Racing.

While the DJR Falcon that was fifth at Sandown originally came out of FPR, the other three Fords in the top 10 are from the team still seen as the Blue Oval's factory representative – although it is now privately-owned with limited funding from the manufacturer – and they were well down the line.

Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris were seventh – after having been a lap down – in the best of them, ahead of the Volvo in the hands of a furious McLaughlin after contact with Mostert in the closing stages.

David Reynolds and Dean Canto trailed the Volvo home, while Mark Winterbottom – last year's Bathurst hero and this year's early championship leader – and new co-driver Steve Owen came in 10th.

Owen lost 10 places with a mistake during his stint but Winterbottom thought the time lost made little difference in the end. Yet again "Frosty" complained of an ill-handling Falcon, saying "the front end was bouncing around all over the place".

"I think we might find something not quite right when we look over it," he said.

No such headaches for the podium finishers in Holdens.

"We got the balance right, so it made for a really enjoyable weekend," said Whincup, now 273 points clear in his quest for a record sixth championship.

He has won seven of the past 13 races – in the process overhauling Winterbottom, who now finds himself third, six points behind Lowndes – and 10 of 29 for the season.

While the No. 1 Triple Eight car was always in control, Whincup said: "It was quite close at the very end and we were all pushing right to the finish line. That's the story with the 'Car of the Future' – now it all comes down to a few tenths and the battle goes on behind the scenes to make the cars as fast as possible."

Second-placed Courtney said three lapped cars between him and Whincup at the restart with 22 laps to go, after Lee Holdsworth's Mercedes was virtually destroyed in a crash seemingly caused by a failure in the right rear, had been a hindrance but the Triple Eight Commodore "had a few seconds on us".

Garth Tander, on the podium at the Sandown 500 for the first time in his long career, reckoned the HRT cars were capable of beating Triple Eight at Bathurst, where he's had three victories.

"We are closing the gap. We have more work to do, but no one is unbeatable," Tander said.

Lowndes was not so happy with his fourth-placed Triple Eight Commodore.

"We just didn't have the race pace that we were after," Lowndes said.

"Whincup and Dumbrell's car was better than ours today, so they were able to sprint when they needed to and conserve when they needed to. That's something that we'll be working on."

Lowndes is the equal of anyone at Bathurst. And his co-driver Richards partnered Winterbottom in the Ford success there last year.

It's all pointing to another Holden party at The Mountain – but anything can happen there, and often does.

V8 Supercar Championship driver standings after 29 races – 1. Jamie Whincup (Holden) 2325 points; 2. Craig Lowndes (Holden) 2052; 3. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 2046; 4. Shane van Gisbergen (Holden) 1982; 5. James Courtney (Holden) 1964; 6. Fabian Coulthard (Holden) 1856; 7. Chaz Mostert (Ford) 1694; 8. Scott McLaughlin (Volvo) 1677; 9. Garth Tander (Holden) 1662; 10. David Reynolds (Ford) 1402.

V8 Supercar teams championship – 1. Triple Eight Race Engineering 4427 points; 2. Ford Performance Racing 3765; 3. Holden Racing Team 3676; 4. Brad Jones Racing 3185; 5. Nissan Motorsport II 2575; 6. Erebus Motorsport 2469; 7. Dick Johnson Racing 2417; 8. Volvo Polestar 2290; 9. Nissan Motorsport I 2167; 10. Tekno Autosports 1977.

Penske ace out front in NASCAR title race

Brad Keselowski's NASCAR victory for Team Penske at Chicagoland Speedway was his fifth of the Sprint Cup season and he leads The Chase for the title with nine races remaining.

While Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano carry the Ford flag, after Keselowski's 2012 Cup title when Penske was fielding Dodges, veteran Jeff Gordon has been Chevrolet's strongest driver this season and he was second at Chicagoland, ahead of Kyle Larson in another Chev.

Marcos Ambrose's tough run continued with 25th place, but even worse for his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate Aric Almirola was an engine failure when he was sixth.

ePrix goes Brazilian as sparks fly at last corner

Nick Heidfeld was left lamenting another win denied him, this time by the action of his mate – and sports car teammate – Nicolas Prost, at the end of the first Formula E event at Beijing's "Birds Nest" Olympic stadium.

"I was next to him [Prost] and he moved over on me," said Heidfeld, whose car flew into a barrier and flipped, but he was unhurt.

Frenchman Prost initially claimed Heidfeld had "totally overcooked it" at the last corner, blaming the German for the contact.

"He was going too fast. I was just starting to turn in at that point and he tried to dive-bomb me," Prost said.

But later, after viewing videos, Prost accepted responsibility.

But Heidfeld said that, while they were friends and he did not believe Prost had acted on purpose, a 10-place grid penalty on Prost at the next round in Malaysia in November "doesn't help me".

"It would have been amazing to come away from the first Formula E race with a victory, but instead we are leaving with nothing except a damaged car," Heidfeld said.

Prost led much of the race for the e.dams team supported by his father, F1 legend Alain, but Heidfeld, driving for Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio's Venturi team, jumped from fourth to second when drivers changed mid-race – as they will do at every event because of the short life of their batteries.

Neither of the pair made the finish as Brazilian Lucas di Grassi flashed by to take victory for the Abt team backed by Audi Sport, which has dominated the Le Mans 24-Hour sports car event in recent times with its hybrid technology.

Frenchman Franck Montagny finished second for America's Andretti Autosport from eighth on the grid, while Britain's Sam Bird claimed the final podium spot for Abt after starting 12th.

Four ex-F1 drivers failed to finish – Sebastien Buemi, Takuma Sato, Bruno Senna and Jarno Trulli – while the two women in the field, Italian Michela Cerruti and Britain's Katherine Legge, finished 14th and 15th in the field of 20.

There were plenty of empty seats in the grandstands and the international interest in the kick-off of the all-electric series appears to have been as quiet as the cars.

MOTORSPORT: Commodores more and more

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